On the fifth day of testing at Jerez de la Frontera, Williams F1 Team driver Kazuki Nakajima was the fastest man on track with a lap time of 1:17.494. McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen clocked a fastest lap of 1:17.933.

it feels like the Ferrari gained some weight around the sidepods..i think they redesigned the whole backend not only the exhausts. Made it a bit higher to drive air flow towards the rear wing... what do you guys think?the Williams is just.... beautiful!

allan wrote:it feels like the Ferrari gained some weight around the sidepods..i think they redesigned the whole backend not only the exhausts. Made it a bit higher to drive air flow towards the rear wing... what do you guys think?the Williams is just.... beautiful!

Yes the sidepods have been changed. I feel they did it to get the exhaust exits within the regs. The car is quite a bit fatter now.

Date: Sunday March 1 2009Drivers: Pedro de la RosaLocation: Circuito de JerezTrack Length: 4.423kmWeather: Cloudy, with a light patter of rain at lunchtimeTrack temperature: Maximum 16.1°CAir temperature: Maximum 15.9°CLaps run today: 94Laps run in total at test: 94Kilometres covered today: 416kmKilometres covered in total at test: 416kmBest lap time today: 1m21.831 at 16:08pmBest lap time of the test: 1m21.831

Programme: Pedro joined the test team today to evaluate compounds and casings for Bridgestone’s 2010-spec rubber. Next year’s tyres will be different as they will no longer be pre-heated in blankets and must also sustain cars running with heavier fuel-loads due to the ban on refuelling. While the team conducted some work using blankets, the prime runs were done without pre-heating, providing Bridgestone with useful data for next season. Despite the day’s session being punctuated by several red flags, the team completed 94 laps before an oil pressure sensor brought Pedro to a premature halt out on the circuit with just 10 minutes of the session remaining. Pedro said: “Running without tyre blankets makes it harder to get heat into the tyre – but that’s the objective for next year and that’s why Bridgestone will supply the teams with different compounds. We managed a lot of laps today and the work with the tyres was very positive.”

myurr wrote:Interesting that McLaren are running the exhaust outlets we all presumed were for the 2008 spec wing, with the new 2009 wing. Any ideas why?

In the MP4-24 thread, someone mentioned that the exausts were aimed towards the tires to heat them up, this may be why

also, Ferrari are running an older style engine cover.

Sorry but that was referring to smaller latent heat exhausts not the main exhausts. McLaren have been running with two different main exhaust inserts depending on the rear wing they were running - I along with everyone else, I guess, assumed they'd be running the other exhaust outlets with this new wing.